Dona Yrena

Dona Yrena was the Nicaraguan mistress of William Walker. An aristocrat from Granada, she was originally the mistress of President Ponciano Corral Acosta, but Walker took her as his own mistress. His obsession over her led to the decline of his administration and, eventually, his own downfall.

Biography
Dona Yrena was born in Granada, Nicaragua to an aristocratic family, and she was a supporter of the Conservative Party of Nicaragua. Yrena became the mistress of prominent conservative politician Ponciano Corral Acosta, who became the President of Nicaragua in 1855. She fell in love with the American filibuster William Walker at a banquet held in honor of his "liberation" of Granada, sleeping with him that night, and starting an affair wtih him. When Walker discovered that Yrena was still Corral's lover, and that he had given Yrena his plans for the country, he decided that he could no longer trust Corral. After Corral was revealed to have asked Guatemala and Honduras to invade Nicaragua and depose Walker, Walker had the popular Corral executed in Granada's town square, angering Yrena and the Nicaraguan public. Nevertheless, Yrena would remain Walker's mistress. In 1856, she attempted to kill him with a pistol in their bedroom after he insisted on fighting the Central American armies which were besieging Granada, and she wounded the Prussian mercenary Bruno von Natzmer before fleeing.